I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of tools, medical instruments and especially surgical instruments, and more particularly to an improvement made to conventional instruments that allows the user to have improved visibility of the interaction between the working ends of those tools or instruments and the object or tissue being worked on.
II. Discussion of the prior Art
In a co-pending application of Finn, et al., entitled SURGICAL INSTRUMENT INCORPORATING FIBER OPTIC VIEWING SYSTEMS, which is being filed concurrently herewith and whose teachings are hereby incorporated by reference, there is described a combination of a tool, such as a surgical instrument, of the type having a handle member at a proximal end thereof, a working element, such as scissors blades, forceps jaws, rongeur blades or a scalpel blade at its distal end, the two being joined together by a rigid shaft and at least one fiber-optic bundle affixed to the exterior of the instrument and extending along substantially the entire length of the handle and shaft. The objective lens of the fiber-optic bundle is accurately positioned relative to the instrument's working element so as to allow viewing of the engagement between the working element and the tissue being manipulated. By coupling the fiber-optic bundle to a suitable viewing device at its proximal end, the surgeon may observe the engagement between the working element of the instrument and the tissue being manipulated, even when that tissue is internal to the body and not directly viewable through an incision.
The invention of the aforereferenced copending application presumes that the fiber-optic bundle or bundles will be secured to the instrument as a factory operation. A need exists, however, for applying the principles of that invention to existing instruments that may already be present in a hospital's inventory. Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a kit, allowing a surgical assistant to append fiber-optic viewing assemblies to existing instruments immediately prior to their use.